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Pathology/Lab Coding Alert

ICD-9 Update:

Rev Up Your Pathologist's Cancer Coding Accuracy With 4 Changes

Published on Sat Jul 25, 2009

Merkel cell CA gets its own codes -- will you know where to look? If you stick with generic neuroendocrine cancer codes, your claims will lack ICD-9's specificity requirement. Avoid this error and more by making the following changes, effective Oct. 1. Most of the ICD-9 2010 changes expand disease subcategories to provide more specific descriptions. Getting new diagnosis codes that provide additional specificity can certainly be a plus for coding accuracy, says Marvel J. Hammer, RN, CPC, CCSP, PCS, ACS-PM, CHCO, of MJH Consulting in Denver. Change 1: Merkel Cell CA: Switch 173.x for 209.3x ICD-9 2010 introduces six new diagnosis codes that describe Merkel cell carcinoma, an aggressive neuroendocrine skin cancer that tends to grow quickly and may metastasize at an early stage. You didn't have a specific code for Merkel cell before now. Physicians diagnose approximately 1,500 new cases of Merkel cell carcinoma each year. That number is [...]
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